Various types of conveyors are known in the art for transporting material or items from one location to another. One particular type of conveyor is an elevating conveyor that is configured to move material or items from a first location to a second location at a higher elevation than the first location. U.S. Pat. No. 7,314,131 discloses an elevating conveyor having a fixed elevating member with a helical flight and a rotating tubular barrel surrounding the elevating member. U.S. Pat. No. 7,314,131 is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
While elevating conveyors are useful for transporting materials between locations at different elevations, conventional elevating conveyors are fraught with several drawbacks. For example, since the height between the first and second locations is not generally the same for every application, conventional elevating conveyors must be custom made to the particular height needed for a given application. Transportation of conventional elevating conveyors can be expensive due to the need to move components having relatively long lengths. Moreover, transporting the lengthy components makes them susceptible to damage during transportation and prior to assembly at the intended location.
Conventional elevating conveyors also require relatively complicated bearing configurations to keep the rotating barrel centered relative to the stationary elevating member, and to maintain a relatively small clearance therebetween. Elevating conveyors which utilize drive belts to rotate the barrel relative to the elevating member generally require extensive disassembly of the entire elevating conveyor when the belts must be serviced or replaced.
A need therefore exits for an elevating conveyor that overcomes these and other drawbacks of conventional elevating conveyors.